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During a press conference call with reporters yesterday, Bustos wouldn’t answer whether or not she would have voted for Obamacare. The freshman congresswoman has been a huge supporter of the healthcare law since announcing her candidacy for the 17th District.

So why is Cheri afraid to shout her support of the healthcare law from the roof tops now?

She must finally realize that her support of this law is going to hurt her chances of being reelected in 2014.

With Obamacare’s broken promises finally catching up to Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, she is running as fast as she can from this failed law. Bustos can run, but she cannot hide from Illinois families who will hold her responsible next November for their rising premiums and canceled plans.

Rep. Cheri Bustos was not a member of Congress when it passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

The East Moline Democrat’s close ally and mentor, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was an enthusiastic backer of the law.

In a telephone conference with reporters Wednesday, Bustos declined to answer Sauk Valley Media’s question about whether she would have voted for Obamacare – yes or no.

She didn’t answer “yes” or “no,” though she said she had voted to correct problems in the law since taking office this year. She also said she wanted to make sure “we are as good as our word.”

That was likely a reference to President Barack Obama’s repeated promises that people would be able to keep their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But insurance companies have canceled millions of individual policies that don’t meet Obamacare’s standards.

In her 2012 campaign, Bustos issued a statement that the Affordable Care Act “is not perfect, but makes real improvements in our health care system.”

“It lowers costs for small businesses and makes sure you have coverage that cannot be taken away,” she said.

Bustos pledged to oppose efforts to repeal the reforms, saying the new law would save money and lives.

Among other things, Obamacare allows people under 26 to stay on their parents’ health insurance, requires companies to accept people with pre-existing conditions, and eliminates the doughnut hole in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage.

It also requires everyone to get insurance or pay a $95 annual penalty, starting next year.

Last week, Bustos was one of 39 Democrats who joined Republicans to pass a bill that would allow people to keep their insurance policies, even if they don’t meet Obamacare’s standards.

She also had been one of a minority of Democrats to vote to delay by a year the mandate to get insurance.

In a recent story, National Journal, which covers Washington politics, noted that most of the Democrats who voted for changes to Obamacare are vulnerable to Republican challenges in 2014. In many of their districts, Obama lost or won by a slim margin.

But in Bustos’ 17th Congressional District, Obama took 56.6 percent of the vote.

Her predecessor, Bobby Schilling, a Colona Republican, an opponent of Obamacare, is seeking a rematch. She beat him with 53 percent of the vote last year.

“Obamacare is a wrecking ball, and Cheri Bustos has done nothing to protect middle-class families from its devastation,“ her challenger said in a news release after last week’s vote. “[Her] vote was nothing more than a political ploy from a Congresswoman trying to hold on to her seat.”